How to clean carpets and upholstery without extractor

[fireman03]

I have a good shop vac and a 7424 with carpet brushes on my next order. What product should I get to clean carpets with this setup. What are your tricks for carpets without an extractor and what kind of results are you getting?

Thanks in advance!

[AeroCleanse]

I'd use Folex for a cleaner.

[A-train]

Here is the order I did it bf extractor and steamer.
- pre vac
- spray carpet cleaner and let dwell
( I used Folex Or 303 carpet/ upholstery)
- agitate with carpet brush
- wipe clean with a clean absorbant towel.

You may need to repeat as necessary. Also you can look at getting carpet spotters on more severe stains.

For red/dye stains. Use a household iron. Apply your red stain remover. Place a white terry towel over the stain, then apply the iron on the steam setting and hold firmly for 30-45 secs. Continue flipping the towel and reapplying the heat.

[Detailing by M]

Meg's APC +

[zlman]

Meg's APC +

Just did my carpet with APC+, HF polisher with carpet brush, and an original little green clean machine (thing must be 15 yrs old).
Very happy with how the APC+ performed.

[Christopher.Brown]

Here is the order I did it bf extractor and steamer.
- pre vac
- dry brush to remove and agitate much mre embeded particles and caked on dirt
- vacumn again
- spray carpet cleaner and let dwell
( I used Folex Or 303 carpet/ upholstery)
- agitate with carpet brush
- wipe clean with a clean absorbant towel.

You may need to repeat as necessary. Also you can look at getting carpet spotters on more severe stains.


I added steps above to the prior list


I find that the dry brush and then vacumn helps to get out at LEAST 60% more before adding water to the equation. Which is infinitely more valuable when not having an extractor to maximize cleaning effectiveness.

In fact, i do this no matter what to ENSURE deeper removal of particles

[Shtexas]

+1 on agitating dry with a brush. Or if you have the brush attachment for your shop vac you could use that and save a step.

[Christopher.Brown]

+1 on agitating dry with a brush. Or if you have the brush attachment for your shop vac you could use that and save a step.

saving the step isnt the same.. when i brush i go over each section 2-4 times. Vertcally, horizontally then repeat.... it loosens up so many more dirt particles its ridiculous.....

if you dont believe me, i encourage you to go try this:

go vacumn the drivers mat thoroughly. THEN brush as i mentioned above and see how much more you suck out and then how much deeper the color of the mat is and how much more plush it seems

[Shtexas]

That's what I do with a medium bristle brush. It's just attached to my shop vac so I'm sucking out the dirt as I loosen it with brushing. Then I go over it with my regular nozzle.

[rmagnus]

+1 on Folex. APC+ is good but Folex is better on carpet. Next get the carpet brush for your PC, works well kust keep the speed down. For some reason the carpet brush workes better on the Flex 3401 but use what you have.

[dchawk81]

What kind of power do you guys' shop vacs have? I'm curious as to what everyone is using for best effect (with the assumption that at some point more power doesn't actually help with respect to sucking out the cleaning agent).

[Pureshine]

+2 on Folex and a brush :)

[sproketser]

Thanx for the tips mate , need to do these on my ride also .